AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE FOOTBALL
MIDWEEK POW6R POINTS
Where Are They Now? The NFL.
It was a good week for former American Athletic Conference players in the National Football League. Most notably, former Memphis kicker Jake Elliott – a two-time American Special Teams Player of the Year – delivered a key win for the Philadelphia Eagles as he kicked a 61-yard field goal at the final gun in a 27-24 victory against the New York Giants. Former UCF quarterback Blake Bortles turned in one of the best games of his career as he went 20 for 31 for 244 yards and four touchdowns in the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 44-7 win against the Baltimore Ravens in London. And former Houston cornerback William Jackson made his first career NFL interception a memorable one as he had a 75-yard pick-six for the Cincinnati Bengals in their game against Green Bay in Lambeau Field.
A Few Key Takeaways
USF is off to a 4-0 start to the season as the Bulls take a No. 17 national ranking in the Amway Coaches’ Poll into Saturday’s game at ECU. USF’s offense received plenty of preseason attention, due largely to the return of QB Quinton Flowers, but it has been the Bulls’ defense which has been their most consistent unit throughout the season. Aside from holding opponents to 17.3 points and 263.8 yards per game, USF leads all NCAA FBS teams with 12 interceptions or three more than any other team nationally, while the Bulls rank second in the nation in pass efficiency defense (83.65).
League Matters
There have been four American Athletic Conference games played to date, but conference play begins in earnest this week with five league games on Saturday’s docket. Either USF or ECU will sit at 2-0 after the day as the Bulls and Pirates meet in Greenville, North Carolina (noon ET, CBS Sports Network). In the West Division, Navy takes a 2-0 conference mark to Tulsa, where the Golden Hurricane will play its conference opener. Three cross-divisional games will have Memphis at UCF (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2), Houston at Temple (Noon ET, ESPNU) and UConn at SMU (4 p.m., ESPNews).
The Best And The Brightest
Five American Athletic Conference student-athletes are among the 181 players across all levels of college football to be named as semifinalists for the 2017 William V. Campbell Trophy as the sport’s top scholar-athlete. The five from The American are ECU quarterback Thomas Sirk, Memphis quarterback Riley Ferguson, SMU center Evan Brown, Temple fullback Nick Sharga, and Tulane offensive lineman John Leglue. The National Football Foundation will announce 12 to 14 finalists for the award Nov. 1; each finalist will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, while the winner of the Campbell Trophy will have his scholarship increased to $25,000.
Long Layoff, No Problem For UCF At Maryland
UCF was one of the first teams to begin play in 2017 as the Knights’ season-opener took place Aug. 31. But the arrival of Hurricane Irma forced the rescheduling of UCF’s Week 2 matchup against Memphis and the cancellation of its Week 3 visit from Georgia Tech. The Knights showed no ill effects from the long layoff, however, as UCF rolled to a 38-10 win at previously unbeaten Maryland. The Knights finished with a 428-197 advantage in total yards, thanks to the steady play of sophomore quarterback McKenzie Milton. Milton threw for 178 yards and a touchdown and had a game-high 94 rushing yards on six carries.
Tulane Marches Past Army In Dramatic Fashion
He didn’t have the gaudy statistics of some of his other counterparts across the nation, but Tulane QB Jonathan Banks delivered a big-time performance to help the Green Wave rally past Army last Saturday. Banks, who had missed the previous week’s game against No. 2 Oklahoma due to injury, returned to the starting lineup against the Black Knights and engineered a 19-play, 17-yard drive in the closing minutes to give Tulane a 21-17 win. Tulane converted three fourth downs on the game-winning drive, including a 10-yard run by Banks on fourth-and-8 from the Tulane 27. After taking a hard hit on that play, Banks left the game briefly, but came back to score the game-winning TD with 23 seconds left on a 4-yard run. Tulane takes a 2-2 record into this week’s bye.